Nearby Stewartby

     

It was warm, but overcast when I parked up beyond the railway bridge on the outskirts of Stewartby. I assembled the EOS R6 on the monopod with the 60-600mm Sigma lens and crossed the road to enter the path leading to the open area beyond. I was lucky to get just three frames of a pair of Greylag Geese heading in the general direction of Ampthill, and one was fortunate to be used at the start of the two page gallery of images from my brief visit.

I was hoping for more birds and possibly rabbits, but the rabbits spotted me and scampered into the bushes before I could even consider a shot! They never reappeared. I spent a few minutes to see whether they re-appeared, then a few moments taking a look at the small lake bordered by reeds, but no signs of life appeared there either!

Every so often trains passed on the raised lines in both directions so I captured a few shots of them, which was good panning practice, and the new EOS R6 body performs excellently in giving me crisp images in short fast bursts. For those interested, I was shooting at ISO 1250, which at exposures of around 1/800 at f/10 gives excellent detail, with no need to smooth out Noise, and the sign writing on the side of the trains is totally legible despite the train passing at high speed. The quality this camera extracts from the Sigma lens across its range is faultless, and when it is sunny I am happy using the 2x Converter which for Sports and Wildlife shots, only using a monopod is a joy.

I am really looking forward to the relaxing of Lockdown and some wind to be blowing at Brogborough to enjoy using this new body at the extremes! Canon and Sigma – Thank you!

Milton Ernest River Walk

An afternoon walk in the mild sunshine alongside the River Great Ouse from Milton Ernest with my  Sigma 60-600mm lens on the Canon EOS R6 mounted on a monopod. This combination is really a highly effective tool for capturing nature and wildlife without over burdening one self with weighty kit. Granted, it is not as stable as a tripod, but I am able to carry this all day without fatigue, and in bright sunlight, as it was on this visit to the River Great Ouse, I was able to use a fairly low ISO speed setting for much of the time. I had a rucksack on my back with another lens should the need arise; the Canon 24-60mm lens with its handy macro facility — when encountering a steep slope or pushing nettles out of the way, a monopod is a handy tool!

On this occasion, my outward trip was to just beyond the overhead bridge arches for the railway where I was able to get a few shots of some cattle on the farther shore, before I turned and made the return trip. Since it was a weekday, and Lockdown is easing, it was unsurprising to find fewer people either out on their own or with family members, but considering the weather I had expected to find more people than I encountered. I enjoyed the exercise, and once again I made an observation that despite returning along the same route, I still found subjects to photograph as I retraced my steps to my start point. Springtime offers colour to the trees with blossom, and has an a effect upon the animal kingdom too, as the birds on the water were in pairs, but surprisingly on this stretch I only saw two pairs of birds, and a week back when in woodland, there was less birdsong, and not as much generally in terms of wildlife. Perhaps the majority of birds were on the nest. It was a workday afternoon, which certainly had a bearing on the paucity of humans, for which I am not complaining.

One of my pleasures when out taking pictures in the great outdoors is playing about with the juxtaposition of subjects and their backgrounds or environment, and the observation of patterns whether natural or manmade, or differing colours or textures in the same image. Likewise contrasts between colours or tones or textures, and this gallery has more than its share of such pairings, and be defined as the characteristics of this one afternoon’s output, yet was not specifically intentional. I wonder how many readers of the blog will make that connection.

Two Visits – Pure Serendipity

  On this trip out, I spotted the entrance to woodland with a short lay-by handily situated immediately opposite. This seemed like a welcome invitation, since I had never visited it previously, and if it warranted a display board to announce itself, it seemed like bad manners not to accept the invitation to visit and explore.

I parked up and decided on what I would take with me and soon I found myself walking along a wide well-kept path bordered with lush grass, and young bluebells with trees displaying fresh young leaves soon to be opening to welcome Spring. The sun had little difficulty in providing its rays to hasten this growth which would be lost to the full glare within a very short time as the wood lost its present sparse look to provide shade for those who would walk their dogs along these avenues.

My walk through these avenues encountered just a few people exercising their dogs, a small young family group and one couple who stopped to chat, and mention that as they had been walking along the parallel path, the man suggested I might well find an interesting shot of a small clump of flowers growing in the cleft of a tree. He was indeed correct!

Later, I spotted a sign to a derelict church, so followed the lane and took a few shots there before returning to the main road and continuing my return trip home. The afternoon proved to be very rewarding by relieving any stress caused by my current isolation from my family.

Another River Gt. Ouse Visit

There are times when Britain defies the idea that all we talk about is our weather, and this day, certainly in Bedfordshire, just had to be one where everywhere I turned everyone simply got on with enjoying it! There were no clouds to be seen from horizon to horizon, just clear blue. I had headed north to a place I had visited on the river that seems to wander in circles around the county, never giving a clue as to where it might be heading. Perhaps the message is: “Forget your compass, just follow me”! I did just that after taking the A421 north until I could get on the A603 and headed to Great Barford. The bridge here tells a story, it has many arches meaning it was built to defy the river and reach beyond its clutches to reach other destinations rather than be contained by its leisurely meanderings. Yes, the river provided water for growing crops, but it also gave the means to reach elsewhere to sell them and to reach higher ground to be safe from its dangers. The bridge not only has many arches, but it has history — a record of being constantly rebuilt stronger and wider over centuries — people here needed the river, and realised it had to be managed.

On this day the river gave over some of its power to the people to be enjoyed, and the sunshine brought them out cheerfully and in relaxed mood, small family groups remained in relaxed isolation, or walked with young families, or exercised with their dogs; older folk sat on some of the benches, at peace, watching others pursue their activities. People individually enjoying both the calm and the exercise in the open fields or on the paths, or on the water, paddling or tending their boats. In the air were birds flying, also with no clearly defined destination; Time appeared to have slowed down in the mild air, and even the young children appeared serene.

I spent some time at the same pace capturing what I saw, before moving elsewhere to see a pair of tractors tilling the ground and raising the dry soil in the slight breeze. I moved elsewhere to capture views of some of the houses and churches and, the ravens and pigeons on the ground or the pollarded trees, and finally I got shots of Spring blossom, fields of golden rapeseed and before leaving the area, I strolled around a lone church which remains consecrated, but like its neighbour buildings seems to be from a bygone era; in retirement.

Another Riverside Walk

  I set off from Marston Moretaine, and headed towards Bedford, and the destination on this occasion was the River Great Ouse at Willington, having parked in some shade, I put my 60-600mm Sigma into my rucksack, and mounted the Canon EOS R6 with the 24-70mm + Macro facility on the monopod, and set off past the Dovecote to the entrance to the woods and the river. I carried a spare fully charged battery, as the one in the camera was only half-charged.

  The first image I took simply appealed to my sense of humour in that the dead tree seemed to depict a Klu Klux Clansman with other bleached and petrified stumps nearby. Am I alone in  visualising faces, animals, and other features in the trees as I walk in woods? As trees age, and branches break off and the trees heal, I frequently see heads or other features form animals and birds without human intervention, and later this same day I come across examples of carving that are not simply happenstance as well as a querulous raised eyebrow that was definitely not the result of human intervention.

  I met and chatted to a few fellow walkers at healthy distanced proximity, and enjoyed a pleasant Spring walk with my camera.

A Lake and a River Visit

           This is a gallery from two different locations; one at the nearby lake at Brogborough, but then moves to the river Great Ouse at Great Barford, on an exceptionally bright day. The early shots at the lake had several shots of the reflections on the water, which handily provide me with background images for greetings cards, which provide backgrounds for messages or for inserting small separate images. I also took various other lake views, and some tulips in my own garden before transitioning to the shots I took at Great Barford.

          Parking was no problem, but I had almost reached the river before realising I had not brought my mask from the car (if asked how do I exercise, it is by forgetting to bring my mask from the car, having walked most of the distance to my destination, and have to return to the car, and make the initial journey a second time!) I find this failing memory extremely frustrating, especially as I seem to have damaged the cartilage in my right knee.

          For the early part of my trip I mainly used my general purpose wide angle to medium length zoom, with its extremely handy button for when I need to do closeup shots. Later, I changed to the 100-400mm for some more distant shots. It was pleasing to find that here social distancing was being observed very well, unlike some of my earlier trips, where the main offenders were groups of inconsiderate cyclists who seemed to consider themselves above such considerations for others.

Sent from my iPad

Milton Ernest Flowers

Every so often, I feel blessed that not only is the sun out, but I am somewhere that really benefits my choice of venue to take photos, and this afternoon at a spot by the River Great Ouse, Spring flowers greet me. My lens of choice for such a situation is the extremely versatile 24-70mm lens with its handy macro facility. The gallery of images displayed on this occasion are taken close to the river at Milton Ernest.

The size of the flowers I captured range from the smallest, a few millimetres in diameter to clusters of full-size variegated tulips, which shows how versatile this one lens can be when used exclusively on the EOS R6, as I was that afternoon. After my long telephoto zooms this is one of my favourite lenses because of this very versatility.

What pleased me amongst these images were the interesting curves that the leaf blades formed alongside the flowers themselves. I rounded off the set of images with shots of the river bank and, as I walked back up the lane, the clouds looked ominous over my parked car, so I captured that as a fitting end to my afternoon.

Marston Moretaine Garden Flowers

  Brogborough Lake had been open, and in good weather that temptation was a magnet, but the sheer number of photos I was able to capture coupled with a computer that is not performing at full speed made my most recent task of putting a gallery of windsurfing pictures up on my blog a real pain to achieve at my normal speed. So, having put those pictures up, I needed the therapy offered by the taking of more photos, but without the same level of urgency, and the new season’s arrival was having a noticeable, and beneficial effect upon the gardens along my road. So, not wishing to miss the opportunity of less energetic image capture, my camera and I, with its general purpose lens and its extremely handy feature offering a macro facility at the slide of a button took a stroll along the main road of Marston Moretaine. 

The houses alongside this road, all featured front gardens to offset the effects of the volume of traffic upon the owners’ peace and quiet and their health; and tended to take considerable efforts to make the most of the opportunity to create a wealth of bushes, flowers and trees, and my walks take advantage of the colour and life that follows. I had paid a visit to both the different Co-ops to buy food, and noted the gardens that offered the greatest potential for images that might later offer handy subjects for cards in the coming months. Upon my return, I offloaded the purchases to my cupboards, fridge and freezer and gathered the camera with the 24-70mm lens with its handy macro facility.

     It was an interesting and rewarding walk up to the main road and back along both sides of the road at times, and was both relaxing and rewarding, and I hope that others can enjoy the fruits of my short trip.

Windsurfing and Other Activities on the Lake

Sorry for the overlong delay in getting any photos up on the blog this time around, but the reason is that the sunshine resulted in my making the most of the time I was down at the Lake, and the sheer volume I had then to work through has meant that even now,  I have decided to get the first half of what I recorded up, so that the pressure is relieved somewhat.

What has also not helped is that my several hard drives have filled, and my new 8TB drive has yet to be optimised for speed! So I hope that the first tranche of shots, at least gave some indication of what caught my eye, whilst I try to get get my house tidied a tad, and then offload a separate set of even more recent shots, before going back to part two of the Brog pics.

Meantime, enjoy these. Sam, Although you caught me a bit off guard, I surprised my self by capturing a higher percentage than I had thought — but I am sorry that you all had to wait quite a while for the results in part two. I feel sure that you’ll not be disappointed! My speed currently is not as fast as I wold hope, but I am running on empty currently and it shows, and my right knee cartilage is causing grief as well; and I am only walking, not crashing the waves! I hope that the wait was worth your patience. Enjoy these as much as I did in capturing them at the time, I hope I did not miss out too much of the less energetic of the folk on the water.

Thanks for providing me with so much to capture — I hope you all feel I have done justice to all that took place that afternoon.

Just a Teaser, The Gallery to Follow

         I am sending this gallery to the blog first partly to say thanks to Sam for lining up so well for this shot, and also to check that I can get these shots up at all, as I have been experiencing serious difficulties with getting anything done to my satisfaction at all, and I apologise for how long this second half of images has taken – it has taken its toll on my Sanity, but hopefully very shortly I will get the rest up to remind you of an excellent Day at the Lake; please be patient and the rest will follow shortly.

Brogborough – Most Open Day for Several Activities on the Lake

                Sorry for the overlong delay in getting any photos up on the blog this time around, but the reason is that the sunshine resulted in my making the most of the time I was down at the Lake, and the sheer volume I had then to work through has meant that even now,  I have decided to get the first half of what I recorded up, so that the pressure is relieved somewhat.

What has also not helped is that my several hard drives have filled, and my new 8TB drive has yet to be optimised for speed! So enjoy the first tranche of shots, whilst I try to get get my house tidied a tad, and then offload a separate set of even more recent shots, before going back to part two of the Brog pics.

Meantime, enjoy these. Sam, Although you caught me a bit off guard, I surprised my self by capturing a higher percentage than I had thought — but you’ll have to wait for the results in part two. I feel sure that you’ll not be disappointed! My speed currently is not as fast as I wold hope, but I am running on empty currently and it shows, and my right knee cartilage is causing grief as well; and I am only walking, not cashing the waves! Enjoy these for now, and I’ll get on with the other half, and also note, I did not miss out on the less energetic of the folk on the water. As some not insignificant actor said: “I’ll be back!”… Rod

Walk around Willington

I needed to be outside in the fresh air, and I decided to go to a spot on the river close to the Danish Camp and the Dovecote Building, but to take a different route from that which I had taken on earlier occasions. I parked my car a short walk from the Dovecote, and with my camera with the 60-600mm on the EOS R6 attached to my monopod, and a camera bag over my shoulder with a shorter lens with its macro facility within I took to a path via a gate that once open fell several inches, making closing it a struggle as it was a bit of a juggle to lift back when closing. Little did I realise I was destined to retrace my steps because my battery was lower than expected, and worse still was my backup battery was also fully discharged! Fortunately there was another back in my car, and that was fully charged. Hardly the mark of a professional! So the walk of Shame was justified. The time lost and energy consumed meant that less time was spent in sunshine.

Although I was hearing birdsong for much of the afternoon, I only occasionally actually was able to catch sight of the songsters, and only to glimpse a speedy low level flight from one bush side of my path to the other. The only bird that did feature was a pigeon, and it kept a wary eye on me and only allowed me a chance to move sideways to better frame it, at the hint of a move closer it took flight! 

There had either been less rain here or recent winds had dried the paths, for the going was the best I had encountered for a couple of weeks elsewhere. The greens were bright here, and the paths were winding making pleasing compositions, and the better weather had brought out canoeists that I was able to capture by moving to gaps in the tree cover when alerted to the sounds of their paddles. At one stage I was able to get a couple of shots of some mandarin ducks, and due to the long lens the chain link fence was rendered out of focus that gave the birds the chance to feel safe and ignore my presence.

On my return journey, I managed to miss the point at which I joined the path, and even had to ask a family group directions back to the Dovecote — I am glad I asked, because without their guidance I might well have taken a different choice and added even further to the distance I travelled to return to the car, and my back was definitely beginning to ache from the camera and rucksack. It was undoubtedly a good choice to use the monopod rather than a tripod, because it was sufficiently stable in the prevailing light levels.

I had enjoyed the chance of the fresh air and the exercise, and felt that the photographs I had managed to take were a good record of the time spent.

BrogLake Windsurfers Return!

        After a long wait, Brogborough Lake opens to the activities of the Windsurfing fraternity, and the day is blessed with both wind and sunshine. The atmosphere was as boisterous as the wind, nothing could mask the joy felt by everyone that the lake was open, and the most notable change was the number of wing sails that were out on the water. The exhilaration and relief were evident in equal amounts; there was a buzz; it was a shame, I had not learned that it was opening up, as I was definitely arriving late, as many sailors had come in and I learned that I had missed much of the activity!

However, having a chance later on, I mentioned that I would have loved to come over earlier had I known that their lockdown was over. I did my best to make up for lost time, and as I had already mounted my camera on the monopod, I decided it was best not to waste more time in returning to the car for my tripod. I was lucky that we were blessed with almost constant sunshine, so I lived with the monopod, and subsequently spent  a tad more time levelling horizons in ‘post’! At least I had established that in good light, the monopod was adequate, and in part this is due to the new EOS R6 giving me a better burst rate and excellent image stabilisation due to the avoidance of shutter bounce.

Overall, my experience with the EOS R6 has meant I can now consider rationalising my lens collection and sell off those that I will be using less due the gains in performance offered by this camera body, also, keeping on the conversion ring for my. Older lenses gives me the very handy ring for speedy exposure compensation. I do have to remember when I have applied this and reset it after having taken those shots with compensation. Now I have become accustomed to this body, the stopgap EOS R may well offset some of the cost any new acquisition!

I hope the shots taken at the lake on the Windsurfers Return will be appreciated by those who participated and possibly those who did not manage to be there — as I wrote that last sentence, it struck me perhaps some entrepreneurial type might consider opening a hostelry nearby with that name to refresh those who visit this lake!

Two Riverside visits — Oakley and Milton Ernest

I drove to the village of Oakley, which has several areas with easy access to the banks of the river Great Ouse, at this time of year, this is an area with a wealth of different indications of different stages of fresh young growth. This was especially noticeable on the trees alongside the road heading towards the church at Oakley, close by a small park and the river Great Ouse. I had parked up in a small area opposite to the gate to the river bank park that has a gate leading to a path across a green field and also an entrance to the riverside path on the other side of the road bridge across the river.

I was fortunate to have some sunshine in the early stages of this trip, but it was not destined to last. One very noticeable observation I made was just how many large tree branches were caught in the various barrages at the bridges and weirs. From my walks in the nearby woodland paths, I was pleased that it was far less muddy than it had been a few weeks earlier, and that some of the clearings had small stacks of collected fallen branches. The barrages on the river were well-filled and the buttresses of the bridge were holding back some very large tree trunks. Also in the small park that stretches from the bridge to the church there were several cut down trees.

I spent much of my time capturing the different stages of growth of leaves and seeds as I walked along the margins, and also noted that one of the walls at the end of the road bridge had very bad cracks, yet also reasonably recent new pointing. My stay at this stretch of the river concluded by my capture of the fresh new season’s various growth stages, before driving to Milton Ernest where I captured a pair of swans on this stretch of the same river, and more young flowers.

I try to make a point of photographing the information panels as it comes in handy when choosing locations at future times.

Forest Centre Walk

My elder Daughter Catherine pays me a visit, and we take a walk in the Forest of Marston Vale, I use the opportunity to note the advance of the season, taking photographs of the blossom, and other incidentals that caught my eye; the trip was very short as Catherine could only spend a short time before heading back to Cambridge, but however short it is always very welcome, and I love and cherish every moment, however brief – now  that the Vaccination programme is well under way, I am hoping family life can return to some semblance of normality.

                Breathing fresh air and being outside is vital, and I feel blessed in being able to be in the open with a camera and lenses to capture whatever I can that is pleasing and interesting, and hope it is of interest to others; those who follow what I have written and experienced in the Great Outdoors – it has been satisfying to note just how many visitors view what I have put up in the galleries over the last week, I hope that is providing others who may well be more constrained than me, the chance to share in what I have seen and recorded.

                This is especially heartening considering that the content has not been as varied or as exciting as when say, the sailors have been out windsurfing on Brogborough Lake. Purely from my perspective, it ensures I keep learning how to get the most of the new camera body, which has allowed me to shoot unencumbered with a heavy tripod.

                This specific afternoon I had only the monopod for added stability, and the Canon EOS R6 body is able to provide improved images from my existing range of lenses and, for Sporting activity, a faster burst rate, so this recent investment I made in that Canon body has definitely been a good move. Being greedy, I would still like to have more sunshine however! All this afternoon’s images were taken with the 24-70mm, and its handy Macro facility when needed.